My Life Back Then
by HollyShannenForever
Summary: Esme tells her whole story to Bella in order to help her understand what life was like back in the 1920's-something that I thought should have been in the books!


"What are you frustrated about, love?" Edward asked me. "Tell me,"

"We have to write about life in the 1920's, and I have no idea what to write about," I grumbled.

Esme's head lifted to look at us and she gave me a faint smile.

"Are you sure want to tell her now?" Edward asked his mother, answering an unspoken thought in his head. She nodded, and Edward left the room. I wondered what Esme wanted to tell me that she didn't want her son to hear.

"Before I tell you my story, Bella, you must understand that life back then was much different than it is now. Some of it is not very happy,"

"Okay, I'm ready," I sat up straight with my hands folded in my lap.

"I was born in 1895, near the outskirts of Columbus, Ohio. I grew up being taught how to be a proper young lady, wearing skirts and dresses and marrying young. I met Dr. Carlisle Cullen for the first time when I was 16 and had just broken my leg climbing a tree. I remember it perfectly now..." Her eyes drifted away, about 95 years into the past.

"I wanted to climb up high so I could see the clouds, and draw them. My mom kept yelling at me to get down from there. I said, 'Hold on, I'm drawing!' Now, in those days, girls were not allowed to do things like climb trees, that was for boys only, and I saw the reason when I felt myself falling, falling, and then I landed on my leg with a crunch. I actually heard a bone snap, and I whimpered in pain. My mother was mad, and she took me to the doctor,"

"Hello, my daughter broke her leg climbing a tree,"

"We'll send someone in,"

"Just as the receptionist said that, a golden-haired God stepped out in a doctor's uniform, and my jaw dropped to the floor. 'I'm Dr. Cullen, what can I do for you today?' It took me a few seconds to answer him, and I blushed. 'Well, I broke my leg falling out of a tree,' He found this amusing, but my mother gave me another glare. They helped me into the examination room and he felt for the break in my bone. I remember his touch was so cold, yet so comforting, despite the pain," She smiled at the memory, and I wondered how this was at all bad. It reminded me of how Edward dazzled me.

"Esme, you sounded like me with Edward," I giggled.

"I was very much like you, sweetheart. I could never forget him,"

"Oh, is that when you first fell in love with each other?" I asked, and she smiled.

"Yes, but he soon moved out of town. I never forgot the experience, and I was devastated when he left,"

"But how did you-"

Esme held up a finger for me to stop with the questions. "Let me tell you. While I initially wanted to move West to become a school teacher, I was pressured by my parents to remain and marry," She seemed to take a deep breath before continuing, and I waited for her to go on. I knew nothing about her human life, except for that her baby died and she jumped off a cliff. What could be worse than that?

"I was the last of my friends to get married and my parents practically set me up to marry Charles Evenson-" she looked pained when she said his name, she gritted her teeth and emitted a low snarl. I heard some growls around the house. I winced, but she didn't seem to notice. Something must have happened to her, was this similar to Rosalie's story?

'"-because he was a friend of the family and had 'good prospects'," Esme rolled her eyes, creating air quotes around 'good prospects'. She was speaking softly before, but each word got more harsh as she went on.

"I was indifferent to Charles but decided to marry him, to please my parents, in 1917. At the age of 22, I married Charles, hoping to please my parents and willing to attempt to be happy. I had to use all my concentration not to sprint headlong down the aisle and out the door. I was faking it when I said the binding words, and my bad feeling didn't go away. I soon regretted the decision as Charles-" She broke off, staring into space. This seemed hard for her to say, so I put a hand over hers, so she could continue. Her breath was ragged as she said this. She bit her lip, but I urged her to go on. How bad could it be, if not as bad as what Rosalie went through?

"-became increasingly violent and abusive towards me,"

I gasped in shock and horror at what she had to go through. How could he hurt someone so kind and loving like Esme? "What?"

"Charles abused me behind the bedroom doors, but I kept quiet. I wanted to be a good wife, despite Charles' abuse,"

"'You nasty little bitch! Where's my dinner?' he yelled at me," I flinched at her loud voice that imitated this Charles guy's perfectly. "'Why are you such a pathetic woman? Can't you be a normal wife? You're worthless! Clean this stupid mess up now!' He on purpose tripped me, pushed me down stairs, slammed me against the wall, bashed my head in, had his hands around my throat as he threw me across the room-" She stopped when she realized my face had drained of color and I had tears running down my cheeks. The expression on her face when she spoke of this horrible man made her actually look like a vampire. She even hissed his name.

Her voice was calmer now, because she'd unintentionally made me sad. "I had scars, scrapes, bruises, cuts, and broken bones when he was finished with me. He demanded to have me the night we married. I lived my whole life in fear. My parents coached me to keep face-" I shook my head in disbelief, glad that my parents would care if someone did that stuff to me. She was right, life _was_ flipped back then.

"Oh, don't cry, honey, it's over now," She patted my hand in reassurance. "-and much to my relief, my husband got drafted during World War I," I blew out a big gust of air in relief and wiped my eyes.

"He was gone?" I asked hopefully.

"No, Charles came back from the war and abused me greatly in 1920, he was terrifying when he was back home. I struggled to break free from him-" She had her hands clenched into fists now, and I was terrified of her expression, until she finally relaxed.

"How could anyone hurt you, Esme? You did nothing to him, _nothing_!" I shouted. I was very furious and upset, but she looked fondly at me and took my hand in hers again.

"I ran away from him when he wasn't looking, a couple of days later I realized that I had become pregnant with Charles' child. I fled north to become a teacher, and in 1921, my son was born, and subsequently died a few days later of a lung infection. After the baby's death, I felt that I no longer had any single reason to live,"

"I'm so sorry, Esme. You had the worst life of them all,"

"That's correct, but Alice was locked in that cell all her life, and Rosalie never had a baby at all,"

"No one beat Alice nearly to death,"

"I tried to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, and was presumed dead when I was brought into the morgue, but my heart was still beating faintly. Here's some good news. Dr. Cullen-" A smile lit up my face when she said that, for her misery was gone. "-was working in the area at the time and recognized me as the happy, beautiful young girl he treated ten years earlier. Carlisle did not want me to suffer any longer so he decided to change me into a vampire as I was dying anyway,"

"Did you get revenge on him?"

"No, I didn't want to stoop down to his level. He's dead now, and no one cares about him anymore," Esme waved a hand dismissively.

"That's a lovely ending to your story, Esme. Now, I know exactly what to write for my history report-the mistreatment of women in the 1920's. Thank you for sharing your story,"

"You're welcome, dear. We can chat whenever you'd like. Now, go on and do your homework,"

I gave her a big hug and went right to work.


End file.
